What the Mountain Heard
by Quicksylverbtgh
Summary: Prequel to "What the Thunder Said," but you can read them in any order you like. Very mild slash. If you can spot the less than PG moment, I will give you a cookie.


This is actually a prequel to my first story. "What the Thunder Said" was intended to be a one off, so you can read these in any order you like. What can I say? Dustin wouldn't shut up about the pretty colors and I kinda felt bad for Cam because he didn't have an element. Anyway, this is the story of how Cam and Hunter fought, made up, fought some more, and then kissed. Same disclaimers apply. Don't own, don't sell, blah, blah, blah… I hope you enjoy

It had started off as a friendly argument, which is to say that it wasn't much of an argument, but more the kind of gentle bickering between siblings and/or close friends that drives the unwary observer crazy. Most of the Winds' arguments were silly affairs, heatedly fought for the five to ten minutes it took both opponents to lose track of their point and move on to a new topic. Grudges were rarely carried over to the next day and name-calling was encouraged. In fact, Cam had often been roped in as a judge of whose insults were the worst.

The Thunders were just the opposite. Arguments were serious, if infrequent business. When Blake and Hunter fought, they would spend days staring icily at each other, leaving a wide swath of cold air between them and basically making everyone else uncomfortable. The entire time that the Thunders stayed with the Winds, they had only witnessed one such argument. The Winds had been at a loss to deal with two fighters who refused to argue outright with each other and finally had had to bring in Sensei to hammer out a peace accord.

But since everyone had started to get more comfortable with each other and a more unified team had begun to emerge, things had seemed much calmer. The Thunders had accepted the Winds and Cam and vice versa. Blake and Tori especially had been trying to educate the other on the ins and outs of life in their respective schools: ancient history, the inside jokes, personality quirks. It was difficult. In some ways the schools were so different that it was almost like trying to teach someone a foreign language that neither one of them spoke. Of course, there were bound to be some flaws in the translation.

It had started off as a friendly argument.

Hunter and Cam bonded over tactical footage, but they drove each other to distraction when discussing anything else. Hunter had been as surprised as Shane was when they found out there was something that Cam wasn't good at. Cam was less than amused when they broke the news to him however, so Hunter ended up being Cam's tutor, because, well, Shane had a lower tolerance for Cam's brand of sarcasm. That is to say, none at all. So they bonded over tactical footage, but that was about it.

Case in point, Hunter thought to himself as he played his new favorite game. It hadn't been hard for him to determine that Cam's personal space extended out for about three feet and that didn't include looking. Hunter could make Cam more flustered in a minute just by staring at him, than he could by leaning over his shoulder to look at something. Cam tended to walk away when he was boxed in, but he had no defense against the weight of Hunter's stare. It was amazing to watch Cam shrink in on himself as if he was trying to avoid the added attention, until finally he gave up and told Hunter to go away. All without turning around once.

The best part was that Cam retaliated. Looking didn't bother Hunter. Hunter thrived under any kind of attention and was physically affectionate at the best of times. Instead, Cam chose to smirk at Hunter. That insufferable, 'I know your fly is undone and you don't and don't you look like an idiot' look, drove Hunter up the wall, but it was easy enough to deal with. Hunter just made sure he had something wet and sufficiently throwable before he started the game. Yogurt was almost too disgusting, but jello had definite possibilities. So far, Cam hadn't come up with an answer to Hunter's projectile defense, but Hunter didn't figure the reprieve would be for very much longer. He couldn't wait.

The two had been trying to study the footage from the last battle when Hunter had initiated this newest round of bug Cam. Cam merely turned around and smirked at him. "Knock it off already. We have things we need to go over."

Cam sighed and rolled his eyes before turning back to his computer. 'Let's face it,' he told himself, 'if I had pigtails, Hunter would be pulling them.' It was fun to watch Hunter's unique brand of flirting, but only when he was safely on the sidelines, well out of reach of the other ranger's aim. Besides, he knew Hunter only did it to annoy him, not out of any romantic notions of flowers and happily ever afters. All Cam had to do was stick it out until Hunter's warped affections found a new target. Preferably someone with stain-resistant clothing.

A spicy orange scent suddenly enveloped him, which was the only warning he had before a warm hand found its way to Cam's shoulder. Recognizing the scent was all that kept Cam from jumping in surprise; somehow, Hunter always smelled like oranges. Cam smiled to himself, proud that he had found a way to prevent Hunter from sneaking up on him from now on. The ninja, for all his size, may have been one of the quietest members on the team, but his smell would give him away every time. Hunter was going to be so disappointed when he couldn't provoke more of a reaction.

A rather large body moved to sit on the computer console next to Cam's arm, which meant the hand was removed from his shoulder. Cam fought the urge to rub the spot as it tingled from the loss of warmth. Hunter's smile was at its brightest, putting Cam on alert.

"You know, you never told us what your element was."

"That's because I don't have one," Cam answered in annoyance. His lack of consistent ninja training and his childhood as the son of a sensei were both sore subjects for him. "I never got that far in my training."

Hunter shifted his weight to the other hip while he mulled that over. "But someone taught you to fight."

"I taught myself from what lessons I could sneak into. A couple of my friends would give me pointers until Dad caught them and made them stop."

"That's kinda sad."

Cam shook his head. "Not really. Mom made him promise not to teach me." He thought back to his time in the past. "I don't think she wanted anything to interfere with my samurai training. Too bad she never got to finish it."

Hunter slowly reached for the green amulet around Cam's neck, giving Cam plenty of warning of what he was about to do. He fingered the stone carefully. "Maybe she did." He let the amulet fall back to rest on Cam's chest. Cam glanced down at his only inheritance from his mother, touching it with a reverent hand. He was surprised to find it was still warm from where Hunter had been holding it.

Cam tore his eyes away from the amulet in his hand and forced himself to meet Hunter's gaze. He was not going to start focusing on the past again. He had wasted enough of his life wishing things were different. If anything, the trip back had taught him that maybe things turned out the way they were meant to. Instead he was going to start channeling his energy into becoming a better ranger and if that meant finding his element, then so be it.

He considered for a moment asking one of the other rangers to help him, but decided that Hunter wasn't that bad of a choice after all. He was the oldest ranger after Cam and he was a surprisingly patient teacher. Besides, he hadn't laughed at him when he gave him battle strategy lessons, why should this be any different?

"So this whole finding an element thing, can we do this indoors or do we need to move this outside?"

Hunter smirked at Cam as he stood, noticing the change in subject, but choosing to let it go. "It might be better outside. Sometimes these things can get a little out of control and I wouldn't want to ruin one of your precious computers."

"Then lead the way, oh Great and Wise One."

"That's _Sensei_ Great and Wise One" Hunter told him as he walked past him to the stairs.

"Can I just call you mentally disturbed for short?" Cam shook his head as he followed him outside. He had a feeling he was going to regret this.

"Hunter's got what?"

"A new boyfriend. I'm glad; the last was a complete dog." Blake continued to pile sand on Tori, burying her under a mound of earth that left only her head exposed. Unfortunately this kept Tori from grabbing Blake and shaking him until he made sense like she wanted to.

"You mean Hunter's gay?"

Blake smiled down at her, a smile that would have normally dazzled her if she hadn't been so completely distracted. "Not so much. He's bi, or as Hunter explains it, 'equal opportunity'." Blake carefully smoothed sand over her mid-section, causing Tori to blink hard while she rallied for another attempt to understand the gibberish that was pouring out of Blake's mouth.

"Wait a minute, Hunter's bi and has a new boyfriend? Who's the guy?"

"Dunno yet. Suppose to meet him at dinner. Speaking of which, you hungry?"

Tori tried to shrug and only managed to dislodge a tiny fraction of the sand encasing her. "You realize this explains so much. I always thought he had a bit of a crush on Cam."

Blake laughed out loud. "Cam? Are you serious? They would kill each other in a week."

"Not if they were both getting some."

Blake ground gritty hands against his eyes in an attempt to block out the images induced by what Tori was saying. "Tori, I respect you. You are a kind and gentle human being. If you ever imply that my brother is in some way having sex or even thinking of someone else in a sexual manner, I will be forced to hurt you. Right after I bore the images out of my brain with a knitting needle."

It was Tori's turn to laugh as she squirmed her way out of her sandy prison. "Blake, come on. He's nineteen. He's a guy. Guys tend to at least think about sex at his age. Besides, it's not like thinking about your mom or dad getting it on."

"Tori, he's been taking care of me by himself for the last five years. It's exactly like that."

"Well, you need to get over it is all I'm saying, especially if you're going to be meeting the significant other tonight."

"If it's alright with you, I plan to stick to my belief that, when alone, they sit at opposite ends of the couch and maybe touch hands."

Tori just shook her head and laughed. "I'm going to see a man about some waves. You coming in or would that interrupt your fantasy time?"

"You're on." Blake shot around to Tori's opposite side and grabbed her board out from under her arm. She chased him all the way into the surf.

Hunter was pleasantly surprised at how fast Cam was picking this up, but, then again, this was Cam. He picked everything up fast. They had been doing some relaxation and visualization exercises that were supposed to have given Hunter some idea of what Cam's element was. Cam was being the model student, yet nothing was happening. Hunter watched in dismay as tension began to creep back into Cam's shoulders and back. There was only one thing left that Hunter hadn't tried and he would have to do it now before Cam became too frustrated at the lack of response to concentrate.

The two men had been sitting facing each other with knees touching, while Hunter lead Cam through several different meditations, but Hunter chose that moment to stand and walk behind the struggling samurai. He took a cleansing breath of his own and noticed the bite in the air, the way it stung his lungs to breathe deeply. He hadn't realized how cool it had gotten in the shade of the overhanging cedar trees. With a quick shift of his hands, he raised a fog of electric current around his body that had the added effect of warming his blood, not to mention the rest of him. He took another deep breath of the chill air and relaxed his body as much as he was able to while using his ninja powers.

The "Cam" that came out of his throat was issued from the bottom of his vocal register and vaguely resembled a growl. At his feet, Cam shivered.

"Cold?"

"Yeah, a little." Cam didn't bother to turn around, but he did tug hard on the bottom of the front flap of his jersey like a kid trying to make a small blanket stretch to cover all of himself on a cold night.

"Let's try one more exercise before we go warm up."

"Fine."

Hunter planted his feet just in case and then again dropped his voice down in to that lower range.

"Just listen to my voice, ok?"

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the slight nod in return. "I want you to imagine that you just woke up. It's a Saturday so you can lay in bed for a little bit without worrying." Hunter kept his voice low and soft, barely moving the hair next to Cam's ear. "Imagine that you have had the best night's sleep of your life. All of your muscles are relaxed. You feel like you could barely move your head off of the pillow, even if you wanted to. In fact, you could almost go back to sleep if you weren't so completely well rested." From what Hunter could see, the last vestiges of tension were finally leaking out of Cam's body.

Hunter scooted even closer. "Now I want you to close your eyes for me." He waited until Cam complied before continuing. "Imagine that you are moving down a tunnel deep underground. You are moving so fast you are almost flying, but without any effort on your part. You could keep this pace for days. Keep moving deeper in to the cave until you see a green light. Do you see it?" A nod was his only answer. "Now look around, behind it. Do you see anything else?"

Hunter watched in frustration as the tension returned and Cam seemed to fight the trance he was in.

"There's nothing there. It's all in shadow," Cam growled, obviously tired and upset at another perceived failure to touch his ninja element. "It's no use, Hunter," Cam opened his eyes. "Maybe the samurai energies interfere with my connection to…huh."

Hunter blinked at the non sequiter. "Interfere with what?" he prompted.

Cam pointedly gazed over Hunter's shoulder, forcing Hunter to turn around. "It's snowing."

Sure enough, big fat flakes were falling around their little clearing, gathering in soft piles under the shadows cast by the trees, but otherwise quickly melting in the afternoon sunlight. 'Only Cam' Hunter thought. He couldn't help it. He laughed until his sides hurt and he was having trouble breathing. He was finally able to control himself, taking in huge, gulping, hiccups of air, but not before Cam had started to get up. "Only you," Hunter told him before he could leave, "would be an ice ninja in someplace like southern California." Hunter was shaking, but he was able to get to his feet. "You can't do anything the easy way can you?"

Cam simply mock-glared at him, trying very hard not to be amused. "I'm going back inside." He sounded very put upon, but his mouth couldn't decide whether it wanted to frown or smile, and instead ended up in something that on anyone else would have been a pout. It was so cute that Hunter used some of the fallen snow to throw a snowball at him.

The snowball hit the retreating Cam square in the back. Cam slowly turned around with his eyes promising a quick and painful death. He tilted his head as if studying a new battle plan or computer program, looking like nothing more than a bird of prey about to strike. Hunter knew when to retreat and, this time, retreat was definitely the better part of valor. He took a slow step backwards, keeping both eyes on Cam, fully prepared for his attack.

He wasn't prepared to slip and fall on his ass when Cam covered the ground behind him with a layer of ice.

There was a long pause as Hunter came to terms with his new position. It was long enough that Cam's face dropped, losing the knowing smirk. He started towards Hunter with something like regret written on his face. Hunter looked at Cam, looked down at the ice that was quickly becoming a puddle, back to Cam and then laughed for the sheer joy of it, having the time of his life. Something softened around Cam's eyes, but he quickly covered it with a look of abused tolerance before Hunter, who was too busy trying to get off the ground, could notice.

Cam watched Hunter flail for a bit before finally deciding to help him, but by then he was laughing too and they ended in a heap, so tangled together they could barely move. Somehow Cam had twisted around enough that his side was pressed into Hunter's stomach and his arm was trapped underneath both of their bodies. The giggles were slow to die down. Every once and awhile one of them would shake with a small bout of hysteria and that would be just enough to set the other one off. When things finally settled down, all the two had energy left for was trying to get their breath back.

It as awhile before Hunter noticed the shivering wasn't residual laughter, but was coming from the fact that the entire back of his training gi was soaked through. "Cam."

Cam tiredly lifted his head from off of Hunter's chest. "Don't move."

"Cam. I'm wet. I think your ice melted."

It made Hunter smile to himself to see how reluctant Cam was to move. It gave him hope that he might actually be wearing the other man down. Together they managed to get to their feet and in to Ninja Ops. They parted ways by the living quarters, Cam heading for his room, Hunter for the team showers, but not before Hunter got in one parting shot. He couldn't resist ruffling Cam's hair, allowing just enough electricity to leak through that it made Cam's hair stand on end.

Cam's swat at his hand was half-hearted and he moved very slowly down the hall towards his room. Hunter wondered if he would hear anything when Cam saw his hair, but decided Cam wouldn't give him the satisfaction. Hunter smiled anyway.

Cam tried in vain to flatten his hair back down. God, Hunter was immature. Cam decided that one immature act required an equal and opposite immature reaction. He quickly made his way in to the team showers and flushed the toilet, whistling as he left so Hunter would know for sure who had done it. There was an outraged bellow that followed him out when the formally hot water turned icy. Cam smirked to himself as he headed back to his rooms. "I didn't even have to use my powers for that."

When they walked back into Ninja Ops, tired and slightly sunburned, it was to find Hunter and Cam locked in one of their epic silent battles. The key was that whoever broke and spoke first lost. Cam's hair was standing up like he had lost a fight with a electric socket and Hunter was busy putting on what were probably the thickest pair of socks he owned.

Tori's smile widened enough to include her eyeteeth. She raised a single eyebrow at Blake. It was clear she saw this as conclusive proof that she was right.

Blake shook his head violently. No way was he going to buy that this was some twisted courting ritual between the two men. Hunter wasn't exactly subtle when he flirted, but this was bordering on second grade behavior. No, no way. Hunter was simply yanking Cam's chain. It was a favorite pastime.

Tori was in awe of Blake's powers of denial. An evil thought occurred to Tori, well only slightly evil, because she was, after all, one of the good guys. But the only slightly evil thought brought a gleam to her eyes that if Blake had seen it, rather than defending the very platonic behavior of Hunter and Cam, he might never have agreed to the friendly wager that Tori was about to propose. Even if he had, he might still have dismissed any seriously worried thoughts, deciding that this was Tori, a friend and teammate. It didn't matter. Blake never saw the slightly evil gleam, nor did he remember later that Tori was a water ninja, a smart, intuitive girl, who had grown up with two boys as her best friends. Blake never stood a chance and what had started off as friendly bickering soon became a wager.

"I bet you that Cam shows up tonight at dinner," Tori whispered to him.

Blake shook his head hard enough to dislodge his gel-soaked hair. "No dice. There is no way those two ever hooked up."

"Maybe not yet…"

"Maybe not ever."

Tori turned around to keep the other two occupants from overhearing. "Is that your final answer?"

"Definitely." Blake didn't even have to think about it.

"Alright. What are your terms?"

Blake smiled. This was going to be too easy. "You have to catch them doing something that proves they are in a relationship and there have to be witnesses. Hunter and Cam don't count."

Piece of cake, Tori told herself. "If you win?"

"Anything I want."

"If I win?" Blake shuddered to think about what the proof might be.

"Anything you want." Tori already had her forfeit in mind. It was going to be great!

Blake paled a little around the gills, but he shook her hand firmly when she offered it. "Deal."

It wasn't until later after Shane had finally arrived that they were able to start the team practice outside in their usual clearing. Even then, they were still a team member short. Dustin had had to cover for Kelly, his boss, at work because she had been out sick with the flu. That was the reason why the only person who might have helped calmer heads prevail was not there when all hell broke loose.

As it was, the two Winds were speculating with Blake on a new teacher at school, Hunter was practicing on his own a fair distance from the rest, and Cam was setting up the equipment for the day's exercises. Hunter finished his last warm-up kata and soon joined the other rangers, watching Cam struggle with the bulky blocking dummies alone.

Blake smiled at Hunter in greeting. "So…I wonder how Cam got his hair to stick up like that." No one had ever accused a Thunder of being subtle.

Hunter shrugged. "No idea." He shaded his eyes with one hand and enjoyed the show across the clearing for a few long moments. Then he shrugged again. "I'm going to go help him before he hurts himself."

Blake laughed out loud, even as he inwardly winced. Tori might be winning this little wager of theirs after all.

Shane, who had been watching the entire exchange, turned an intense gaze on Blake. "I didn't know he could use his powers to do something like that."

"He who?"

"Hunter, that's who. Since when could he use his powers for something so minor?"

Tori joined in the staring contest, clearly interested in the outcome of the conversation.

"What," Blake asked, "Did you think we only did thunder bolts and dramatic entrances?" Blake felt a little insulted. He and his brother were master level ninjas; of course they could manipulate their given elements at all levels.

"So what can you do?" Tori's curiosity prompted her to ask.

Blake scrambled for something to show the two that would be impressive enough to awe Shane and Tori, but also likely to go unnoticed by Cam the drill sergeant. Then he remembered a trick he used to use with Hunter in place of walkie-talkies when they were kids.

"Watch this," he told them as he cupped his hands in front of him and pointed them down the field towards where Hunter and Cam were standing. A frown of concentration creased Blake's brow for a moment (he hadn't practiced this particular skill in a long time), before, suddenly, voices seemed to be echoing out of the space between Blake's hands.

/Don't look at me. If you want them to help, ask them./

/I shouldn't have to. Good ninja students would be over here helping their sensei set up./

All three of them blushed a dull shade of red in embarrassment and guilt.

/Whereas teammates don't have the same expectations./

There was a long pause. /Cam, can I ask you something/

/Is this going to end with me putting my foot in my mouth again/

/Probably not, but that's up to you./

Tori looked over at Blake in anticipation. She suspected she was about to win that wager. She would feel guilty about spying on the other two, but the thought of Blake as her willing slave for a week soothed any such pangs of conscience that she might feel.

There was a scuffle, as one of the two seemed to pick up something from the ground, and then a nervous cough. /Well, I mean, what I wanted to ask is really./

There was another throat-clearing cough. /What are you doing tonight/

/Practice, sleep, dinner at some point. Why/

/Would you want to eat with me and Blake? You know, maybe get a change of scenery./

A thud echoed down the link as whatever they were moving was dropped. /Just to be clear, you are asking me out on a date, right/

/Trying to, yeah./

Tori was so delighted by what she had heard that she was jumping up and down before Cam could answer Hunter's question. Unfortunately, Cam and Hunter were not far enough away that they couldn't understand what it was that Tori was shouting in triumph. Then again, cries of "I win. They're in love," would have been hard to miss.

Cam was slow to turn away from the spectacle that Tori was making of herself, but when he did, the full power of his hurt and furious stare settled on Hunter. Hunter tried very hard not to shrink from it. The only thing that helped was knowing that he had had absolutely nothing to do with this and that he was going to have a large part in taking care of those who had.

"Cam," Hunter tried to reason, "I know we need to talk, but I need to knock some sense in to the youngsters. Wait here for me?"

Even in the middle of the clearing, where they were standing in full view of the afternoon sun, Hunter could feel the temperature drop several degrees. This was not good. Blake and Tori and Shane would have to pull something like this before Hunter had been able to teach Cam some of the finer points of control over his new abilities. He quickly brought up his own shield of electric warmth.

Cam's nod was short and curt, but it was still more than Hunter had expected.

Shane had already backed up a few paces, leaving Tori and Blake to face Hunter alone. This was something the three would have to settle for themselves. Overhead the sky was starting to dramatically darken. Blake was anxiously switching from watching the sky and watching Hunter. Shane had never known either Thunder to lose control badly enough to raise a storm like this.

"Bro, you need to calm down," Blake shouted to his brother against the rising winds.

Hunter walked right up to Blake and used all of his extra twelve inches of height to tower over him. "Believe me, _bro_. I am calm." He jerked a thumb over his shoulder towards where Cam was standing with his back to them. "This is all him, thanks to you guys."

Shane chose that moment to cut in. He had his arms crossed and was worriedly looking at the sky. His air element was giving him an earful as a sudden shock of cold wind nearly knocked them all to their knees. "Cam doesn't have an element."

Hunter never relaxed his angry posturing. "We've been working on it."

"When were you going to tell me?"

"Now's good."

Shane fought against the wind to join the circle. "Tell me you taught him at least the basics."

It was Hunter's turn to look apologetic. "He had his first lesson today."

Whatever Shane was going to say in response was swallowed up in the rising noise. As one, the group faced down the field to the figure that was pacing in the middle of the clearing. They could barely see him for the avalanche of freezing rain that was dropping from the sky. The two leaders shared a look. They needed to stop this before Cam really got started. If he called up something too nasty, he wouldn't have the learned control to pull it back.

Both men bent in to the wind. Shane tried to use his wind powers to lessen the push of the wind against them, but the winds themselves were caught up in the maelstrom of Cam's ice storm. Shane looked back at Blake and Tori. Maybe if he and Tori pooled their talents, they could make the wind and rain listen to them. He started to make his way back, shouting at Hunter to follow him. It took him a few steps to notice that Hunter wasn't following him.

Instead, Hunter was standing, back straight, with his head tilted towards the sky. His eyes were shut in fierce concentration as a crimson glow began to surround him. Shane watched as a coil of pure crimson energy twined up Hunter, only to be followed by another and then another, each coming fast on the heels of the last until Hunter resembled one of those Jacob's Ladders that they used in physics class. He watched as Hunter raised a fiery fist at the sky and a bolt of power slammed into the heavy underbelly of the clouds smothering the small clearing. An answering bolt crashed in to the ground yards away from where Cam was. The corresponding bellow of thunder knocked all of them to the ground.

When Shane recovered enough to lift his head off of the ground, it was to discover that the storm was slowly dissipating and the temperature was on the rise. He turned to check on Hunter, but Hunter was already walking back inside. Shane wasn't the only one to notice that Hunter was shaking so hard that he could hardly stand. He shared a worried look with Hunter's brother and Tori, who turned to look at each other, but quickly glanced away. When he looked around for Cam, the samurai ranger was nowhere to be seen. Shane dropped his head back down to the ground. Sometimes, he really hated being the leader.

Today was not a good day for Cameron Watanabe. Today Cameron Watanabe wanted to be feared. He wanted to look at someone and have them scurry to get out of his way. Today he felt downright dangerous. Like a sword edge or a land mine, he was just waiting for someone to set him off. And after everything that had happened, Cam was more than ready to pick his battles. No matter what his father said, he was going to let out some of this pent-up rage boiling inside.

It was almost by accident that Cam ran in to Hunter outside the entrance to the boys' facilities. Blue eyes seemed to blaze out of a face that was unnaturally pale and a hand came up to swipe at something on his lip. It killed whatever rage had been eating Cam from the inside. Trying to sneak past him, he grabbed a glass off the bathroom sink and filled it for Hunter. Hunter, for his part, seemed reluctant to take it. Cam finally set it down on the toilet seat and moved out of Hunter's way. Hunter waited a few moments before collecting the glass and draining it in long gulps. Cam held up a hand to take the glass back, but Hunter carefully maneuvered around Cam and set it back down himself. When he moved back to his spot, both arms were crossed tightly across his chest, as if to discourage any possibility of an accidental touch.

It made Cam more than a little defensive himself. Fine, he got the picture that Hunter was mad at him. That didn't mean he had to…

Cam stopped thought mid-stream and remembered again the mystery of the shaking hands, the way Hunter had staggered back in to Ops, and swallowed with the sudden realization. _This_ was dangerous. This fear to use your powers, this control and precision that bordered on self-hatred. This was what dangerous meant.

Suddenly it was like Cam was looking at Hunter through a prism. A hundred fractured views of their shared history together were swirling in front of him and threatening to make him ill. Cam knew he was slow sometimes dealing with people, but how had he missed seeing all of this? What Cam had mistaken for a shallow pond was, instead, deceptively still waters. Hunter, Cam realized, was nearly the same age as him and tonight he looked all of his nineteen years.

Cam grabbed a towel and wet it for him.

"Are you alright?" he asked, holding the towel out.

Hunter refused him for a moment. "Don't ever make me do that again." He took the towel from Cam and carefully washed his face and mouth. Rather than hand it back, he put it on the counter and left, the green ranger staring in shock after him. Cam had never felt so cold before in his life.

Dustin eyed the phone, urging it to ring. Something was going on, he knew it, but nobody was calling to let him know what. He glanced at the clock. He'd give it five more minutes and then he was going to beg Kelly to let him out early. He brushed harder against the bit of piping he was polishing; not that he needed to, the chrome was already shiny enough to be used as a mirror.

Blake stared in shock at the door that was slammed in his face. He didn't understand. Hunter had never treated him this way. Even when they were mad at each other, Hunter would talk to him. Yet now, there was an entire wall between them. Blake rested his forehead against the door, fighting the urge to scream in frustration.

_You are as bad as Cam, throwing your powers around._

You are such a hypocrite. I saw how Cam's hair was standing up. Don't talk to me about how to use my powers. Besides, I'm not the one with the impulse control problems, am I!

Blake blinked hard in memory. Hunter's face had paled even further. What could he have said to take it back? Hunter had pushed him out of their bedroom and shut the door so hard that the slamming sound of wood on wood was still ringing in his ears. He was always saying the wrong thing with Hunter lately. So stupid! He slammed his hand in to the wall, knuckles first as punishment.

A smaller hand grabbed the bleeding hand, another found his back and started rubbing. Blake didn't have to turn his head to know who was there. "Go away Tori."

Tori hummed a low note to try and soothe him. It had the opposite effect. "Tori, please, just leave it."

"Blake, it'll be ok," Tori promised. She moved so that she could look him in the eye. "Hunter's just needs some time to calm down. Then Cam and Hunter can both apologize for being jerks. We can apologize to them for eavesdropping and then we can all celebrate over pizza." Tori lifted a hesitant hand to Blake's head, as if to ruffle his hair, but stopped when Blake shifted away. Her head dropped and she turned to look at the floor. "It will be ok."

"How Tori?" Blake hit the wall again, ignoring how Tori moved away from him in his fury. "Hunter has never laid a hand on me. Even when we were mad at each other, we were still brothers." Blake struck out again. "He just _threw_ me out Tori. How is it going to be ok?"

Tori started back towards him, a hand reaching out to touch him again. He shrugged her off, stumbling backwards a few steps to get away from her. "You and Dustin and Shane…you just don't get it! This isn't a game. Lothor's not going to decide that he doesn't really want to be an evil dictator anymore, thanks, and hightail it for Bermuda. There is no guarantee that there is going to be a happy ending." Blake swallowed hard over the lump lodged in his throat. "Hunter may not forgive me. And it will be partly because of you."

Blake continued to back away from her, widening the distance between them. "Do me a favor. Just leave us alone, alright?" He turned quickly and headed out of sight, leaving Tori to stand in shock, too stunned to go after him.

It wasn't until the next day that Dustin was able to drag his tired body through the hidden portal and in to Ninja Ops. He was just glad that Kelly was finally feeling better. After being up all night with first Tori and then Shane, Dustin didn't think he was up to handling the shop today. Of course, Dustin didn't feel like he was up to handling the mess the others had made either, but a ranger's gotta do what a ranger's gotta do.

When he walked into Ops, he knew already Tori and Shane weren't going to be there. They had had a special project after school to finish. Blake was probably out training on his bike; he usually didn't make it here until after five during the week. Hunter was no doubt avoiding them all after yesterday. That left Cam. Dustin hoped he would be a little easier to deal with when no one else was here. Dustin snorted to himself. Keep dreaming, Dustin.

"Hey man, what's up?" he called to the figure monitoring the massive bank of computers. Cam jumped with a start and dropped whatever he had been holding.

"I…that is, not much." Cam casually typed in a few lines of code. "Things have been a little quiet around here."

Dustin dropped his book bag by Sensei's stand then turned to look at Cam. He could see a faint blush slowly fading from his cheeks. He noticed that Cam's amulet was resting outside of his gi; normally, the amulet was tucked safely away underneath. Dustin shook his head. Cam must have been playing with it again, which was a sure sign that he was trying to puzzle something out. "Dude, you wanna know what's totally weird? I'm like super-tuned in to you guys." Dustin took the desk chair that Cam never sat in and spun around in a circle. He alternated which foot he pushed off with while he waited for the sigh that told him Cam was losing his patience. There it was. "Like the other day, I could tell Tori was really super psyched about something and then she showed up later to tell us she was going to visit her brother at the dorms this weekend. She was so stoked. She hasn't seen him in like forever." Dustin neglected to mention that he also hadn't needed the tearful phone call from Tori yesterday to know that something was seriously wrong with the team.

"That kind of makes sense, if you think about it." Cam's mind was already off and running, mapping out the implications of that statement. "We already knew the ranger energies increased your reflexes, your healing time, and along with that, your metabolism. Why not improve your brains as well?"

The yellow ranger eyed Cam suspiciously, waiting for the joke to be made at his expense. Cam sighed. It was no fun for him if they knew it was coming.

"So yellow is like all touchy-feely emotional guy?"

"Actually, they're usually girls." Cam ducked to avoid the pillow thrown at his head. "I guess I would say it's more like you're the peacemaker in the group. You're our balance."

Dustin's smile was a blinding response. "So what does green do?"

"I don't know. There haven't been a whole lot of green rangers."

"Well, have you noticed any new talents?"

"Not really. The only thing I noticed was that I apparently suck at tactical decisions."

"Dude, you don't suck," Dustin slapped him on the back. "You're just normal like the rest of us. Well, except for Shane and Hunter, but that makes sense. They're red; they're the leader-type guys usually, aren't they?"

Cam wanted to slap his hand to his forehead. "Of course." He dropped back in his chair. "You're right Dustin." He let his mind go off on tangents, poking at the different theories that such a statement suggested. "Why would we need two though?"

Dustin shrugged, quickly losing interest in the conversation and turning to poke at the bonsai in Sensei's motorized guinea pig home. "Don't know. 'Cause there's two teams maybe? Although they are way different colors." Dustin spun back to face Cam, bouncing on his toes at the thought that had just hit him. "Maybe, maybe, they do different things. Totally. Yeah, like Shane is the leader dude, like the front man in a band. And Hunter," Dustin frowned fiercely like he was trying to run down an errant thought. "Hunter's like the manager. No better, he's Billy Cudrup in "Almost Famous."

Cam laughed. "I guess Shane will be glad to know he's being played by Jason Lee."

"Dude, you know what I mean. Shane draws all the attention and is the spokesman and Hunter kinda sits back and watches. He can catch the stuff that Shane can't see because he sorta stands outside the group and does that whole brooding, tough guy thing. That's so it." Dustin was very pleased with himself. He shook curly brown hair out of his eyes and beamed at Cam.

Cam just looked at him in amazement. "Dustin, sometimes you scare me."

"I am totally not scary." Dustin proceeded to pick all of the sunflower seeds out of Sensei's bowl and pop them in his mouth. "Ask Tori," Dustin told him with his mouth full. "She is way more scary than me. Plus she hits harder than any of you guys."

Hunter was doing his best to avoid everyone. He had stopped by Ops earlier to warn Sensei that he might go out of communication range and then ninja streaked until he was far enough away from everything that he could breath again. He ended up in a valley between two mountains that he didn't know the names for. It was mid-summer and the field was filled with wildflowers in bloom. Hunter swiped at one, wincing even as he did so. Sensei Omino would be very disappointed in his lack of respect for other life forms. He twirled the captured stalk in his hand despite that; the deed was already done and it wasn't like it would do any good to throw it away now. He took a deep sniff of the bloom and then tossed it anyway.

With a heavy sigh, he folded down until he was in lotus position amongst the greenery. Sitting like this, his head was barely visible above the tops of the plants. Hunter quickly centered himself with one of the exercises that he had been trying to teach Cam yesterday. He needed the extra calm that meditation would bring and he needed the time to think, although he hadn't been able to avoid thinking all last night, so much so that he didn't get to bed until late. As a consequence of the late night combined with the long ninja streak, instead of meditating, it wasn't long before Hunter fell asleep.

It had taken some time, but Dustin had finally succeeded in getting Cam to spar with him. And man was he regretting that Cam had caved. The plan he and Shane had concocted last night had called for Dustin getting Cam to blow off some steam. Dustin winced as a hard right swing almost broke through his block. Next time, Shane could play the sacrificial lamb.

"Break?" he asked hopefully. The grunt he got in response was good enough for him. He headed for the bench that held their towels and water bottles. It wasn't long before Cam joined him. "Did you…uhm…get a chance…to talk to Hunter…last night?" Dustin panted out.

"Not really."

"So yes…then?"

Cam threw his towel down and then stood to start stretching his arm along a nearby section of wall. "It didn't go well." The man was barely breathing hard. Dustin gave up on talking in favor of breathing and just gave Cam a look until he explained.

Cam moved to the floor and bent his leg to stretch his back muscles. He glanced in Dustin direction before moving to stare at the opposite wall. "He went out of his way to avoid touching me."

"That's," Dustin struggled for a good adjective. "Not great."

"No kidding."

"Did he give you a chance to apologize?"

The fact that Cam didn't answer was answer enough.

"That was stupid." No problem finding the adjective that time.

"I know." Cam released his leg to lay flat on his back. "What do I do, Dustin?"

Dustin finally stood up to start his own stretches. "Apologize."

"What if that's not enough?"

Dustin shrugged. "Keep apologizing. That's what usually works for me." Dustin swung one arm up behind his head. "Well, and flowers. Maybe not for Hunter, though." Dustin breathed out slowly and then released his arm. "Probably a new set of brake pads would work better." 

"Thanks" Cam smiled. "Do you want to go again?"

"Sure." Dustin's smile was overly bright and just a touch forced. He let Cam go ahead of him and then followed him back on to the practice mat. He didn't know what 'delegating' meant, but he figured it had to be a dirty word in some language. Next time Shane used it, Dustin was running for the hills.

At the same time that Dustin was playing the martyr, Shane was trying to track down Hunter. He felt bad for pawning off Cam on his best friend, but he figured things evened out because he was left with getting everyone else to a team meeting. Hunter was the only ranger he hadn't been able to find yet. Blake had been easy. He was at the track practicing. Tori had been a different matter. She hadn't been with Blake and Blake hadn't know where she was, which was a first. Shane shook his head. Was it too much to ask that everyone take turns having an emotional meltdown?

He had found Tori at a beach she frequented. Her board was lying next to her, but it looked dry. Shane could have bet money that she hadn't used it today, except he figured they had had enough of bets to last a lifetime. They had talked for a bit. She was still upset about how Blake had rejected her. Shane hadn't really known what to say. Dustin was better at the emotional stuff. Shane was better at hitting things. In fact, he was really, really good at hitting things. Where was a monster when you needed one? Shane immediately changed his mind about that idea. The way his team was acting right now, he did not want to find out what they would be like in a combat situation. It might be the first time that they actually lost a fight and with a guy like Lothor, losing wasn't exactly an option.

When he had left her, Tori seemed to have pulled it together a little. It was a sign of how she felt about Blake that he was able to get Tori this upset. Shane made himself put that problem on the back burner. He needed to find Hunter and then they would hash this all out as a team, together.

He gave up the search after twenty minutes and went to Ninja Ops to get Cam's help. When got there, the main room was empty. He poked his head in to the training room and found Cam and Dustin still sparring. Shane winced in sympathy. Dustin was going to have words with him later.

"Cam?" Both combatants separated instantly. "Can I get your help with something?

Cam moved to grab another towel, throwing one to Dustin, before meeting him at the door. "What's up?"

"I can't find Hunter. Would you be able to look for him with the computer?"

"Let me get some stuff first." Cam took a big swig of water. "I'll meet you guys out there."

Dustin glared at Shane as soon as Cam was out of sight. "Next time, you get to baby-sit him."

Hunter was blissfully ignorant of the fuss over his unexplained absence. In fact, he was blissfully ignorant of everything except the inside of his skull. In his dreams, he was doing exactly what he was doing now, laying down in a sea of grass, arms crossed behind his head, and watching as the slow appearance of the night sky washed over him. In his dream, as the stars slowly came out, answering lights danced in to being around him. They hugged close to his body at first and then cautiously slipped in to the neighboring plants to bathe this little field in light. Hunter lifted a sleep-heavy head to look out at a mirror of the night sky.

He gently pulled the nearest blade toward him. The lights weren't clinging to the blade like he would have thought. Rather the light was an imbedded spark trembling just under the surface. A near-by shimmer caught his attention. When he turned his head towards it, he found that the lights were caught even in his own skin.

Electricity, he realized, was what he was seeing. The ebb and flow of energy laid out before him. The shock was big enough to throw him out of sleep. When he opened his eyes, the dancing lights had retreated once more.

A beep jolted him out of his sleep-stupid haze. "Yeah?"

"Bro, where are you?" Dustin's voice was way too loud right now.

Hunter sighed and then rolled to his feet. So much for peace and quiet, he guessed. "Didn't Sensei tell you?"

There was a flurry of hushed whispers, followed by Sensei Watanabe's low, steady tones. Hunter smiled to himself. Sensei had an amazingly deep voice for a guinea pig. He lost his smile when he heard Cam's frustrated, "Why didn't you tell me that?" followed by Sensei's "Because you did not ask." Hunter was not as mad at Cam as he had been for his reckless use of power, -- the walk had taken care of a lot of his anger – but he still didn't want to talk to him yet.

"Hunter, when can you be back, man?" Hunter could hear the frustration in Dustin's voice, which given the patient nature of the earth ninja, meant someone was being a real trial.

"Soon. Is there trouble?"

"No, nothing. Yet." 'Knock it OFF!' he could hear Dustin yell at the others.

Hunter rolled his shoulders to try to loosen a few lingering aches from his impromptu nap. "Understood. I'm leaving now."

"See you soon." Before Dustin cut off the comm link, he heard him mutter, "Thank God!"

It wasn't long afterwards that Hunter arrived back at Ninja Ops. He paused outside the holographic waterfall. When Dustin had called, it sounded like everyone was there. Probably Sensei had called a meeting to sort through all the trouble from yesterday. The problem was that Hunter wasn't quite ready to do any sorting. He knew himself well enough to know that any confrontation now would end badly, but he also knew that the situation with Lothor didn't grant any of the rangers the luxury of time or space to deal with these issues in the normal manner. Suck it up, he told himself and steeled himself for the firing squad.

And firing squad was about right. Five pairs of eyes turned to follow his entrance in to the main room of Ninja Ops. Shane stood up from his cushions at one end of the table. "Hunter, thanks dude for coming." He motioned to Hunter's customary seat. "Pull up some floor."

Hunter crossed his arms automatically, already feeling defensive. "I'd rather meet this standing, if that's okay with you."

"Hunter, don't…it's not…" Shane finally gave up. "Fine, do whatever, man."

"Thanks."

Shane looked over at Dustin and Dustin smiled and nodded in encouragement. Shane visibly straightened after that. "After yesterday, Dustin and I kinda figured we needed to have a team meeting, I guess for a couple of reasons."

Shane started to pace in front of the group, gaining energy and speed as he spoke. "The way I see it, we all had to learn a lot after becoming rangers and man, I used to know what Tori and Dustin at least were capable of, but, and I don't know if this is a ranger thing or a ninja-life-or-death thing, now it seems like everyone has things they can do that nobody else knew about and it would certainly help in combat situations to know what."

"Shane," Dustin cut in. "Breathe."

"Sorry."

Tori almost smiled at that, but she seemed pretty quiet today. Hunter noticed she wasn't sitting next to his brother and the way that Blake would look at everybody except himself and Tori. He would have bet money that their fight had something to do with the argument Hunter and Blake had had yesterday. Hunter mentally slapped himself. Stupid, stupid, Hunter, he told himself. He never could manage to think before he opened his mouth. He hadn't been angry necessarily with Blake, so much as irritated by the fact that the younger ninjas had been spying on him and Cam. Cam had been the one that Hunter was truly mad at. Unfortunately, Hunter hadn't trusted himself to say more than two words to Cam and that left all that frustration and disappointment to be thrown at someone else. Blake had just been the next one to enter the room.

Hunter moved abruptly forward. "Can we do this some other time?" He glanced around the table. "I don't think any of us are quite ready to talk about anything." He held up a hand to stop Shane before he got started again. "Why don't we write down any new abilities we've noticed and then we can talk tomorrow?"

Shane almost looked relieved to be given a way out of the awkward meeting. "Sounds good."

"Alright then." Hunter was quick to turn on his heel and head back towards the room he shared with his brother. He really wanted to avoid talking to anyone right now.

Blake didn't know what had woken him up until he heard the door slide open and a large silhouette move through it. Blake groaned at the thought of getting up, but hurried out of bed and after his brother anyway. He found him where he expected to find him, the kitchen.

Hunter was ferreting through the cupboards. He would pull out a box of crackers or can of peas, returning some to the shelves at random. From the way he was moving, Blake could tell he wasn't really awake, but he had already known that. Hunter was a sleepwalker from way back. He had grown out of it for awhile, but recent events seemed to have brought the nocturnal journeys on again with a vengeance.

Blake moved up next to his brother. "Whatcha looking for?"

"Goldfish," Hunter muttered.

It took a moment of searching, but Blake found the box and handed them to Hunter. "These?"

Hunter clutched the crackers to his chest. "Thanks." He turned then and shuffled back towards their room. Blake could always put the crackers back in the morning, before anyone noticed them missing.

He slammed a can of corn down hard in frustration. He hated doing this, picking up after Hunter at 3 am, and he hated when Hunter would get so bad that he would sleepwalk. Enough is enough, Blake told himself. He and Hunter were going to talk tomorrow and get things worked out. Blake didn't relish losing sleep just to follow Hunter around.

He took one last swipe with a dishrag before heading towards his own bed. 'Tomorrow,' he promised himself.

Blake didn't get the chance to talk to his brother the next day. None of them got the chance to talk. First, Cam had spent the morning tracing weird energy signatures, then Hunter had been attacked, and now Condortron was whupping up on all of them. It didn't help that no one was performing at their peak. Hunter, Blake, Cam, and Tori were distracted by the need to avoid one another and Shane and Dustin were trying their best to watch out for the other four. Then Hunter flipped in to flight mode and was knocked out of the sky. The resulting crimson and purple explosion nearly threw Blake and the others off of their feet. As it was, Blake was struck dumb for a moment, frozen with fear for his brother. He could only think that he had lost another family member.

The other rangers actually beat Blake to the crash site, but Blake was the first one to find Hunter. Hunter, who had demorphed after the crash. 'Please let it have been after the crash,' Blake prayed; the suit would have given Hunter some protection from the crash. Blake's visor flipped up with a thought, as he bent to check Hunter's still form. "Cam, we need to get him back to Ninja Ops!" he turned to face the green ranger. "Can we use the samurai zord?"

Cam nodded, although his helmet didn't allow him to adjust the face covering without removing the entire helmet. Cam made a quick motion on his morpher to call his zord and tried to pick up Hunter as gently as possible. "Blake, can you grab his feet? He's too tall for me to carry."

Together they moved Hunter in to the zord and strapped him in, while the others returned to the fight. Blake watched the zord take off, before returning to action himself. That bird was dead. Nobody hurt his brother.

Cam hated this part. Somehow, he had been assigned the team medic position, a position which meant that he had gotten to see an awful lot of Hunter. This time was no better. Cam mentally cursed himself for giving in to Hunter's toy lust and rebuilding the bike. The only thing that bike had been good for so far was crashing. Carefully Cam felt along Hunter's rib cage for spongy spots as he began an internal tirade against bikes and the stupid riders who rode them and who were too stupid not to crash the stupid things.

With a groan, Hunter jerked away from the sharp fingers. "They're not broken."

Cam ignored him and continued his systematic exploration. "Shut up and lie there."

Hunter knocked his hand away and sat up. An impressive feat considering the fact that he never opened his eyes. "You don't get to be mad at me, remember?"

"What I remember is what I said the last time you crashed your bike." Cam had to reach over the bench to beginning prodding Hunter's hard head. "So pay up."

The sound of plastic being stretched beyond its limits was quiet, but unmistakable. Cam looked down to notice that Hunter's hands had turned completely white from where he was clenching the seat cushion. He quickly let go of Hunter's head and backed away.

"Where do you live man? On what planet do you get to pull this kind of crap and get away with it?" Hunter swung a leg over the bench to face Cam. Cam didn't need a hand on Hunter's shoulder to feel the tension there; he could see it. "You fucked up Cam. Royally. Own up to it!"

The last part was shouted in to his face. Cam had never had anyone get physical with him and he was not about to let Hunter start. He returned the favor and invaded Hunter's space. "Fine. I fucked up. Now sit down!" Cam tried to back Hunter towards the bench.

Hunter ignored his efforts. "It's not that easy!" Hunter pulled himself up to his full height, despite the fact that Cam knew he had to be hurting. It was a bad sign that Hunter was angry enough to ignore even that. "You could have killed Blake, or Dustin, or any of the others. Over what? A practical joke." It was only times like this when Cam realized how much taller Hunter was than him. "And people think I'm immature."

Cam had to breathe through his nose and count down from ten before he trusted himself to talk. "Sit down Hunter. Before you fall down." When Hunter didn't move fast enough, Cam actually grabbed Hunter by the shoulders and yanked him back down on to the padded medical bench. The sad part was that Hunter let him. Cam snapped a blood pressure gage on his arm and picked up a scanner to recheck the ribs. Once his hands were fully occupied with something else, Cam finally trusted himself to say something. "I am sorry."

Hunter only grunted in reply as Cam made him shift and caused one of his many bruises to flare in pain. Hunter turned his head to stare at the wall as Cam collected more equipment from a nearby tray. He didn't turn back, even when Cam began bandaging him. It wasn't until after Cam had tucked him in for an overnight stay in the infirmary and whispered his apology again, that Hunter turned to look back at Cam.

"I'm sorry," Cam apologized as soon as he noticed Hunter's gaze.

Hunter seemed to struggle for a moment, his mouth tightening for a second on a thought. "I know," Hunter sighed. He pulled the blanket up to his chin and closed his eyes.

Cam almost went back to him, but instead, he walked to the door and turned the light out. He took one last glance back before shutting off the lights. "Goodnight Hunter."

"Night, Cam." Cam waited with his hand on the doorknob, but nothing else came. He nodded to himself. Fair enough.

Dawn came too early for Hunter, but because he had spent a life time of getting up to practice as soon as there was light enough to see, he also couldn't ignore it and go back to bed. With a groan, he pulled himself up from the padded bench and left the infirmary to go to the dojo. If nothing else, he was going to start the day off right and work out some of his left over anger. He wouldn't be able to talk to Cam or his brother until he did.

Once at the dojo, he stretched both hands over his head, enjoying the tug and pull of muscles stiff from sleep. Sometimes it just felt good to move his body. He dropped down in to a seated leg stretch, then pushed up in to a bridge. He ended with a walk-over. A full body shake later and he was ready to begin.

The kata he began was one of the most difficult he knew. Sensei Omino had just started teaching it to Hunter and Blake before the school was attacked. As such, he needed to concentrate hard on his movements and even then, he still did not achieve the same graceful ebb and flow of movement that came with performing a mastered kata. It wasn't until he had finished the last position that he turned to acknowledge Blake.

"Finally got up I see."

"My usual alarm clock didn't wake me up." Blake pulled an arm across his chest to stretch out a cramp. "You were in the infirmary. How you feeling?"

"Better. You?"

"Better."

Hunter left him to grab some towels. He tossed his brother one. "Have you apologized to Tori yet?"

Blake shook his head in amazement. "How did you…I don't want to know." He took a moment to wipe the sweat off of his face. "We, uhm, kinda argued a couple of nights ago."

Hunter tried to hide a cocky, know-it-all grin, but failed utterly. "Figured as much." Blake threw the dirty towel at his head, making them both laugh.

"Alright, fine, if you know so much. What do I do now?"

"You could try talking to her."

"No duh dude. What do I say?"

Hunter grabbed a practice bo from the wall and gave it a few practice swings before selecting another one with a little more heft to it. "I'm not the one who talks, remember?" He threw the other bo to Blake, who whipped it in to a complicated figure eight defensive block. "Tell her you're an idiot." Blake took that opportunity to strike at his head. Hunter didn't bother bringing up his bo to block him; he simply rolled and ducked out of the way. "You didn't mean what you said."

"I kinda did though." Blake stumbled back as Hunter went on the offensive.

"What did you say?"

"I just," Blake dropped his weapon out of ready stance and Hunter did the same. Blake walked up to Hunter so that he could lay a hand on one of his shoulders and look him in the eye. "You know that if it was ever between you and Tori, you'd win, no question, right?"

"Blake, you don't have to choose. I wouldn't want you to."

"No worries, bro. I still would choose you."

"I love you too man," Hunter smirked and backed up a step so he had room to maneuver. "But I'm still not giving you my Bud Light."

Blake flushed and then tried to trip him with his bo. Hunter laughed and took off running, Blake hot on his heels. Somehow their chase turned in to their morning run and they cautiously circled the abandoned area around Ninja Ops. The two brothers never entirely let their guard down when outside where Lothor could attack them. They tried to stay alert and ignore the demolished ruins around them. It didn't hurt that the morning was nicely cool and there was not a monster in sight.

It wasn't until later, when Blake was sliding past him for his turn in the shower, that Hunter was able to return the sentiment. He stopped Blake for a second. "I wouldn't make you." He turned to gather up a clean t-shirt and jeans, leaving Blake to stare after him.

Cam was seated at the computers once more by ten o'clock. He wasn't an early riser by any stretch of the imagination. Often times he couldn't go to bed at a decent hour because he stayed up late trying to finish one last thing. Morning always came too early for him.

By the time he had gotten up that morning, there was breakfast lying on the table and a note from his father to 'work on things, Cameron.' Part of Cam wanted to reject his father's advice out of hand. After all, how much insight could a guinea pig have? But he realized that thought for what it was, tiredness and frustration, and quickly buried the impulse to tear the note in to several pieces.

He had the schematics for the Wind zords pulled up now. He was trying to figure out a new way to squeeze more offensive power out of the individual zord forms. The Megazord might have more power than any one single zord, but it also represented an easy, slow moving target. One day Lothor was going to realize that, and simply use his spaceship to blast them all to kingdom come. Fortunately, bad tactical decisions apparently ran in the family and Lothor hadn't taken advantage yet.

Cam sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose under his black-rimmed glasses. His eyes were still tired from his lack of sleep last night. He wasn't tired because he had been up all night coding though; he had been tossing and turning, trying to figure his way out of this mess with Hunter. He knew why Hunter was upset. He couldn't figure out a way to make up for that though. Cam straightened and hit save with a savage thrust. Maybe it was time he called in reinforcements. He and Tori might be able to come up with something if they worked together. After all, who knew the stubborn Thunder brothers better than they did?

The plan that Tori and Cam had hatched was simple, but required the help of Shane, Dustin, and Sensei. For it to work, the other boys would have to get the two brothers out of Ninja Ops and in to town. Sensei was going to give the team the night off, and they were all going to go to a movie together. Afterwards would be when Cam and Tori ambushed Hunter and Blake.

The group shielded their eyes as they emerged out of the darkened theater in to the dying afternoon sunlight. Shane and Dustin were the last to emerge. Shane grabbed the younger boy's arm and pulled him around the side of the building before anyone could notice they were gone. They would meet up with the group back at Ops later. Phase I complete.

Phase II involved pizza. It didn't take long for Hunter and Blake to notice that the two other boys were gone, but Tori was able to distract them with talk of dinner, specifically pizza. Blake and Hunter were typical teenage boys; they were ruled by their growling stomachs. After all, they hadn't eaten for two hours at least.

Hunter and Blake shared a glance over their second slices, when Tori suggested they could order dessert. Cam had stayed silent for most of the meal.

Blake swallowed the bite in his mouth and dropped the rest of the slice back down on the paper plate. "So, Dustin and Shane weren't hungry?"

Tori smiled nervously. She had done everything nervously since they had left Ops for the movie theater. "They were going to grab something back at Ops."

"You asked them to go back to Ops," Blake translated.

"Maybe."

"Maybe nothing," Hunter sighed. He turned a hard glare on Cam. "What do you guys want?"

Cam returned glare for glare. "We were trying to apologize, but the effort seems kind of wasted on you."

"Cam," Tori's retort was sharp. "Knock it off."

Blake elbowed Hunter, but his message was the same. "You didn't have to do this."

"We wanted to," Tori assured them. "Right Cam?"

Cam stuck to nodding. Non-verbal answers seemed to get him in less trouble.

Blake had to smile at Tori's earnestness. He captured one of her salt-roughened hands in his. "I guess then, I would have to apologize too. I'm sorry for being a jerk. I was stupid."

Hunter made a choked noise beside him, but stopped before Blake could elbow him again. He settled for stepping hard on his foot, in warning.

"Should we just say the guilt is equal and forget about it?"

"Sounds good to me." He pulled Tori up from the booth. "Let's get dessert to go. Later bro." He didn't look back as he led Tori out of the restaurant.

"Later bro," Hunter mimicked. "There's brotherly love for you. I give him awesome advice on how to win back the love of his life, and he stiffs me with the bill." Hunter threw his hands up. He glanced sideways at a still uncommunicative Cam. "At least you're a cheap date."

That got a reaction out of Cam. "Are we on a date?"

"I don't know. Do you still like me enough to have dinner with me?" Hunter's answer was glib; he hid his interest in the answer well.

"I am sorry, you know, about everything." Cam didn't look up, but traced a formica flower with his fingernail.

"You should be," Hunter crossed his hands over his chest and went in to lecture mode. "A ninja never uses his skills for personal gain. A ninja lives in harmony with the world around him. A ninja is always…"

Cam stood up abruptly. "Yeah, well, in case you haven't noticed, I'm not a ninja. I'm a samurai." With that, he walked out the door, pushing the door so hard to get out that the door handle chipped the brick face of the wall behind it.

Hunter swore to himself and threw some money down on the table, before heading after Cam.

"Cam," he called. "Cam, wait up." It took him a moment to chase down Cam. "Cam, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it that way."

Cam whirled on Hunter. "Just because I'm not a ninja, doesn't mean I'm stupid or less skilled. It means I know something different. Can you wrap your big, dumb brain around that one?"

"It's a pretty simple concept. I think I can handle it," Hunter concentrated on his breathing for the next few moments. "And I don't think less of you. You're right. It's just different."

Cam eyed Hunter suspiciously. He never gave in this easily before. Hunter had to smile. He knew what Cam was thinking and he would have been right, if Hunter hadn't already been halfway to forgiving him already.

"What about the other thing?"

"Forgiven, but there's a condition." Cam really wanted to say yes without thinking about it, but he knew better than to agree to anything with Hunter before finding out the terms of the agreement. He waited for Hunter to continue. "We train your element for real."

Hunter's demeanor lost all joking smiles. "What happened a few days ago cannot happen again. Absolutely not. I don't train people who abuse the gift that way. Understood?"

"Completely." They shook on it for good measure.

"Great." Hunter looked back the way they had come. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Does it involve pizza or ninja powers?"

"Not really."

Then ask away."

"Are we really on a date?"

Cam gave him his first kiss then, just to shut him up.


End file.
